Allison’s sudden caution is not a moment too soon as there are some strange goings on in Holliston, North Carolina. Allison’s elderly neighbor, Malvina Hastings, has disappeared, a dashed off note to her husband saying she is going to visit her sister. Yet Malvina has left behind her daily medication. Her husband Leroy seems truly concerned; when Leroy turns up dead, caught in a paper rolling machine, the police decide they need to find Malvina quickly, either to save her life, or as a suspect in her husband’s death which they determine to be murder. 

Still not sure what she has to do with all this, Allison turns to her friend and possible love interest, Fred, a former police detective, to get his take on all of this. Allison thinks the classroom break-in has something to do with her neighbor’s death and is going to figure it out or die trying.

 Valley of Death is an easy read - almost too easy as from the moment each clue or suspect appears it is if they have been highlighted in the text leaving almost nothing for readers to guess. Allison is a warm character, who has been teaching at the school long enough that the policeman sent to investigate the break-in was one of her students. 

The rest of the characters are not as well developed; though there are some strange behaviors, a sense of small-town and community is lacking.  With the mystery easy to solve and the culprits easy to point out, the pace of the story slows, often leaving readers wondering why Allison can’t see what is so obvious to everyone else.                                                     

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry